A Touch Of Gold – Elvis Record Price Guide

AFTER MY FIRST ELVIS BOOK was published by O’Sullivan Woodside in 1985, I was not content with the across-the-board changes that I had made. I wanted more! I had been too conservative—a word rarely associated with me—in adjusting assigned values and wanted a second shot at getting it right. Five years later and I had A Touch Of Gold.

I could have given this book to Krause, but chose instead to go the self-publishing route. With my best friend Jack Thuemmler as the business half of a two-person partnership, we launched White Dragon Press to publish an ongoing line of specialized price guides for record collectors. 1

My second Elvis book was graced with one of the first published photos of Elvis by Robert W. Dye. I met his son in 1990 at the annual get-together in Memphis during August to commemorate Elvis Presley’s life. We hit if off and he offered me access to his father’s photos.

This was a great idea that, alas, blew up in our faces. Jack and I were beset by one problem after another—each unforeseen, each minor. By the accumulation of minor problems taxed our resources (both capital and personal) and we failed after selling a few thousand copies.

Hindsight shows me that I should have simply given the book to KP and reaped whatever rewards there were to be reaped and moved on. But that’s another story. 2

White Dragon Press was a two-man operation with me as the creative department and best friend Jack Thuemmler as the business brains.

Bootlegs and radio transcriptions

With ATOG I was able to tweak all the changes that I had made in the 1985-1986 edition of the Elvis Presley Record Price Guide. I again lowered the common records and raise the rare records, bringing the whole within something resembling the reality of the marketplace!

Aside from the thousands of legitimate records issued in the US, I included a few new sections. They are listed below with their section or chapter number in the book:

7.Counterfeit Sun and RCA Recordslisted all known reproductions of Sun Records and RCA Victor 78s, 45s, PSs, EPs, and LPs.

10.Bootleg Recordslisted every bootleg record known to exist at the time.

11.Radio Programslisted syndicated shows shipped to radio stations as either reel-to-reel tapes or LP records.

Each section was discographically accurate and realistic values were assigned to each item.

In my first Elvis book, I had been too conservative in adjusting assigned values and wanted a second shot at getting it right!

Memorabilia and sheet music

As the full title of the book was A Touch Of Gold – Elvis Presley Record & Memorabilia Price Guide, I had to have memorabilia! So I included these sections:

12.Sheet Musiclisted hundreds of printed music for songs that Elvis had recorded.

The listings for each section were not complete, as few such endeavors ever are. Realistic market values were assigned to each item.

A Touch Of Gold was well received by those who bought the first printing. When I talk to collectors, I still get told that this was the best Elvis book ever and some of them still refer to it rather than the others that have been published since!

A second edition of ATOG was planned and would have been an even better book: with the assistance of Linda Jones, I was going to include a chapter devoted to the novelties manufactured in 1956-1957 with the approval of Elvis Presley Enterprises.

These charm bracelets, dolls, lipsticks, etc., are the rarest and the most collected and therefore the most valuable of all Elvis memorabilia. 3

Twenty-five years late and I still want to finish that second edition of A Touch Of Gold . . .

About my other books

There are eight articles on this site explaining the various books I published for record collectors. They are best read in the following order, which is roughly chronological: